Chaturon to detail 'gagging tactics'

Chaturon’s three passports were revoked by the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday for what Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam described yesterday as punishment for Chaturon’s repeated criticism of the government and the societal divisions it caused.

Chaturon posted on his Twitter account, which has more than 170,000 followers, that on Monday he would reveal all the tactics used by the military-led regime to gag him.

The National Reform Council votes on the draft constitution tomorrow. He said he would wait until after the NRC vote and then “I will reveal what measures have been used against me in order to prevent me from expressing any view, particularly not to criticise Prayut,” he tweeted on Thursday night. 

He told The Nation yesterday that he did not want to distract the public by talking about himself just before the NRC considers the draft charter.

“I’ll do it after Sunday through Facebook,” he said.

Deputy Government Spokesman Maj-General Weerachon Sukondhapatipak sought to allay concerns over the decision to revoke Chaturon’s passports. 

He said they were not cancelled because he criticised the government, which was permitted, but because of the intention harboured by Chaturon in doing so.

He said people must ask why Chaturon criticised the government – what was his intention and what impact did it have on society?

Weerachon said repeated requests for Chaturon to rein in his behaviour had been made in the past, including warnings being given. 

Now is not the time to criticise the government in that way, he added, because it would cause divisions in society. 

He said cooperating with the government should not be too difficult.

In response, Chaturon said no one who criticised the government deserved to have his or her passport revoked and the government did not have the authority to mete out such a punishment. 

He labelled Weerachon’s remarks as vague. “What does it mean? If the intention in criticising the government is not satisfactory to the government, can it just revoke the person’s passport?”

When a reporter questioned Weerachon about the effectiveness of revoking the passports given that Chaturon can only travel abroad if permitted by the military court and the NCPO, Weerachon pointed to Chaturon’s strong reaction as the measure of its impact.

Asked whether any criticism of the government would result in someone facing the same fate as Chaturon, and whether cancelling his passports was it a warning to others, like the Thai saying: “Slaughtering a chicken to set an example for monkeys.”

Weerachon said no, clarifying that nobody was a “chicken” or a “monkey”.